Ars Nova to Host 'Off Color Salon Series' for UNDERGROUND RAILROAD GAME

Presented in conjunction with the New York premiere of Underground Railroad Game, Ars Nova presents the Off Color Salon Series which features artists, scholars, writers and community leaders in post-show discussions examining race, sexuality and education.

As the nation careens toward the November elections and an uncertain future, the US, once again, tears itself apart along racial lines. Join Ars Nova as they take up the challenge set down by Underground Railroad Game creators Jennifer Kidwell and Scott Sheppard and confront the history of slavery and American identity, power and privilege to imagine a more perfect present and future.

Following performances over three Mondays (September 26, October 3 & 10), each discussion is organized around a specific theme - September 26, Color and Difference, October 3, The Miseducation of Children, and October 10, Race, Sexuality and Power. September 26 will feature Broadway Black founder, Andrew Shade, Obie Award winner Chris Meyers, comedian Rae Sanni, cultural anthropologist Samantha Phillips, and hip-hop entrepreneur Abraham "A-B-E" Velasquez. October 3 will feature Columbia Professor of Social Studies and Education, Christine Barron, and performer Scott Sheppard and Margarita Roldan. October 10 will feature Whip Smart author, Melissa Febos and comedienne Christian Polanco and Mollena Williams-Haas & Georg Friedrich Haas.

All Off Color Salon Series discussions will be held at Ars Nova, 511 West 54th Street, immediately following performances of Underground Railroad Game and all are free and open to the public. It is not required to attend the performance the same day as the post-show conversation. Underground Railroad Game runs approximately 75 minutes.

Underground Railroad Gamewas created by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott Sheppard with Philadelphia based theater company Lightning Rod Special and directed by Taibi Magar. The showwelcomes audiences to Hanover Middle School, where a pair of teachers - Kidwell and Sheppard - are keen to introduce you to today's lesson. The nimble duo goes round after round on the mat of our nation's history, tackling race, sexuality and power in this R-rated, kaleidoscopic and fearless comedy.

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Color and Difference
Monday, September 26 at 8:30pm - following the 7pm performance
FREE: Attendance of the performance not required

It is widely understood today that race is a fiction. The fact of racism continues to wield its power. Is it possible to break free from the idea of White as pure and perfect and Black as dirty, inferior, and dangerous? Join us as we sit down with a scholar, two artists, and a comedian to confront the origins of race as color and the evolution of Whiteness. How can white and non-white people confront Whiteness?

Moderator: Andrew Shade, Founder of Broadway Black
Panelists: Rae Sanni, Samantha Phillips, Chris Meyers, Abraham "A-B-E" Velasquez

The Miseducation of Children
Monday, October 3 at 8:30pm - following the 7pm performance
FREE: Attendance of the performance not required

This past March, in Syracuse, NY, the unthinkable happened. Talisha Fernandez's 8 year old daughter came home and reported that a frightening game was being played in gym. Students were cast in the role of slaves while their gym teacher adopted the role of master in a game designed to teach them about the Underground Railroad. Join educators, consultants, facilitators, comedians, parent Talisha Fernandez, and a park ranger, as we discuss role play in education, effective methods of teaching history, and ways to engage and educate young people in and outside the classroom about our shared history of power, oppression, and privilege without fostering blame, shame, or guilt.

Panelists: Christine Barron, Scott Shepherd, Margarita Roldan

Race, Sexuality, and Power
Monday, October 10 at 8:30pm - following the 7pm performance
FREE: Attendance of the performance not required

Master. Servant. Dom. Sub. The language used to describe ourselves and others' likes, dislikes, and roles within intimate relationships are heavily coded. Do these terms become more charged (or less?) in interracial relationships? What about when those relationships occur within the context of BDSM? Join us as we discuss race, sexuality, and power with a slave wife and her composer husband, a sexuality curator/author, humanitarian/activist, and members of NYC TNG.

Panelists: Melissa Febos, Christian Polanco, Mollena Williams-Haas and Georg Friedrich Haas

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Christine Baron is an Assistant Professor Social Studies and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, is a former high school history teacher and museum educator. Prior to her academic post, Dr. Baron directed the development of educational and interpretation programs at the Old North Church, Boston. Dr. Baron's research focuses on using museums and historic sites as laboratories for history teacher education. Her related interests include examining historical thinking related to non-traditional texts and teaching and learning in informal settings. She has been recognized by the National Council on Public History American Association of State and Local History, and the National Council on the Social Studies for her research related to using historic sites to foster historical thinking.

Melissa Febos is the author of the memoir, Whip Smart (St. Martin's Press 2010), and the essay collection, Abandon Me (Bloomsbury 2017). Her work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Tin House, Granta, Prairie Schooner, Glamour, Salon, The New York Times, Guernica, Dissent, Poets & Writers, Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York and elsewhere. Her essays have won prizes from Prairie Schooner, Story Quarterly and The Center for Women Writers and she has been featured on NPR's Fresh Air, CNN, Anderson Cooper and elsewhere. She is a three-time MacDowell Colony fellow, and has also received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, The Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Ragdale, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. The recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, she is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Monmouth University and MFA faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). She serves on the Board of Directors for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, and co-curated the Manhattan reading and music series, Mixer, for nine years. She was raised on Cape Cod and has lived in Brooklyn for seventeen years.

Mollena Williams-Haas, a "Delicate, Trembling Flower of Submission,"© is a NYC born and raised writer, actress, BDSM Educator, Storyteller, sobriety fiend since March 14th 2007 and an Award-Winning Executive Pervert. Owned and collared by renowned contemporary composer Georg Friedrich Haas since December 2013 and his wife since September 2015, she serves as his beloved slave, submissive, wife, servant and Muse. Her opinion and viewpoints on issues of kink, Leather and BDSM are frequently sought after by news and information sources such as The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, Essence, and Ebony, among other publications. She is a frequent guest expert on Dan Savage's "Savage Lovecast," has scored a triple header as the only threepeat feat. on Tristan Taormino's "Sex Out Loud" radio show, and has been featured on Margaret Cho's "Monsters of Talk" podcast.

Georg Friedrich Haas is one of the leading artists in Europe today, known and respected internationally as a highly sensitive, daringly innovative composer and imaginative researcher into the inner world of sound. He is a homo politicus aware of his responsibilities as a citizen. Born in 1953 in Graz, a city in the east of Austria. His childhood was spent in the mountainous province of Vorarlberg, on the Swiss border. The atmosphere was marked not so much by natural beauty in the accepted sense of the word. Rather, Haas experienced the mountains as a menace; he felt closed in by the narrow valley where the sun rarely penetrated. Nature for him represented a dark force. The landscape and the atmosphere of the place have left a lasting impression on his personality.

Chris Myers is a New York City born and based artist and activist, who recently just finished filming his highly anticipated web series, GUAP, a comedy about the gentrification of Washington Heights that he both created and wrote. The recipient of a 2014 Obie Award for his performance in Soho Rep's An Octoroon, he has worked on new plays & classics, feature film, TV, commercials and voice over with industry icons such as Woody Harrelson, Phylicia Rashad and Frank Langella. Chris received a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School and trained additionally at the British American Drama Academy.

Christian Polanco, a native of Brooklyn, New York and the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Christian discovered at an early age that being funny was a way to get people to like you and "not want to beat you up." This was enough motivation for him to pursue comedy. Christian's comedic style has been greatly influenced by such comedians as George Carlin, Conan O'Brien and Chris Rock. While honing his skills in clubs all over New York City, Christian also performs all around the country as well, and has even had the opportunity to perform in Canada and the UK. Recently, he was a part of a comedy bike tour across Ohio where he rode 400 miles across the state and performed 8 shows along the way. He is not a trained cyclist, so his love for comedy is the only thing that carried him along on this very ill-advised endeavor. Outside of being a stand-up comedian, Christian also does a fair amount of acting, writing and improv. He is currently the head writer for an online talk show called "Metro Section," where he performs on the show as well. Christian has also hosted a popular podcast called "Offstage w/ Christian Polanco," where he interviewed other comedians about how they handled dating and relationships.

Samantha Phillips is a first generation American born to Caribbean parents. With her father from Clarendon, Jamaica and mother from Linden, Guyana she grew up with a rich and diverse view on cultural identity. She attended Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology with a focus on Cultural and Visual Anthropology. Samantha is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in Anthropology at Hunter College; her main academic interest is in Black identity. Previous topics of research include ethnicities within the Black race, images of Rastafarians and race relations in Guyana. Samantha is also working on her thesis, which looks at the socialization of Blacks through Social Studies classes in Public Schools.

Rae Sanni is a comedian and writer from Brooklyn, NY who has been bringing her unique perspective on everything from pop culture to race and gender relations to audiences all over. Rae co-hosts the monthly stand-up comedy show LoudMouth!, and has been seen in Vulture, Buzzfeed and on Glamour.com. You can find Rae on Twitter @Raesanni, where she muses on her love for Rihanna, NBA players and being a black person.

Scott Sheppardis a performer, director, creator, and teacher living in Philadelphia. A Co-Director of the Philadelphia based theater company Lightning Rod Special, he has been a creator and performer for all of their the productions. Scott is a proud member of the inaugural class at Pig Iron's school for Advanced Performance Training (2011-2013) and was a creator/performer for Pig Iron Theatre Company's 99 Breakups as well as Gentlemen Volunteers (remount 2015). His most recent projects include Holden with George & Co and Sans Everything with Strange Attractor Theatre Company and Lightning Rod Special.

Andrew Shade has a burning passion that lies in the arts. Originally from Fort Wayne, IN, he resides in the heart of Harlem, helping to lead the way in building a more diverse and knowledgeable audience in the theatre world. He is the Founder & Editorial Director of Broadway Black, a digital platform dedicated to highlighting the achievements and successes of African-American theatre artists on and off the Broadway stage. Broadway Black has taken the theatre industry by storm & has been endorsed by the likes of Ben Vereen, Jennifer Hudson, & Misty Copeland just to name a few. However, Shade feels the greatest achievement has been using his experience and knowledge of the industry to create a community celebrating his own. "There is no greater joy than fueling & inspiring those who once thought the theatre was a foreign place to which they were not welcome," he says. He lives the life of the Broadway Black slogan and shows what can happen "When The Theatre Goes Dark"

Abraham "A-B-E" Velasquez earned his B.Sc. and M.A. at New York University and is a co-founder of the Hip Hop and spoken word arts collective, The Peace Poets. The published poet has been featured in the book, Off the Subject, alongside Nikki Giovanni and the late Sekou Sundiata. He has shared the stage with Peter Yarrow, M1 (Dead Prez), Harry Belafonte, Dr. Cornel West and others. He was granted a scholarship in 2010 by New York University for his installation piece Hip-Taoism; a fusion between Hip Hop culture, metaphysics, spirituality, Taoism and his life journey. A-B-E has led educational Hip Hop Culture seminars in Santander (Spain), Berlin (Germany) and The Bay Area (California). Earlier this year, A-B-E and The Peace Poets released their latest mixtape, The Silver Lining and collaborated with M1 (Dead Prez), to record Take It Down, a Hip Hop anthem demanding the removal of confederate flags, statues/monuments and street signs honoring white supremacy throughout the country.

Ars Nova is committed to developing and producing theater, comedy and music artists in the Early Stages of their professional careers. Our unique development programs are designed to support outside-the-box thinking and cross-pollination to encourage innovative work. Dubbed by the New York Times as a "fertile incubator of offbeat theater," Ars Nova blurs genres and subverts the status quo. With our feverish bounty of programming, we are the stomping ground and launching pad for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. By providing a safe environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova gives voice to a new generation of artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Ars Nova was honored with a 2015 OBIE Award and a 2015 Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle for our sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work. Notable past productions include: Outstanding Musical Lortel Award-winner Futurity, by César Alvarez with The Lisps; New York Time's "Best of 2015" Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl (Off-Broadway transfer production currently running); Time Out NY's "Best of 2014,"Jacuzzi by The Debate Society; Drama Desk nominated Charlatan by Vinny DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg; the award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy (Lortel, Obie, and Richard Rodgers Awards; Broadway transfer production 2016); Jollyship the Whiz-Bang by Nick Jones and Raja Azar directed by Sam Gold; the world premiere of the 2009 season's most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and directed by Alex Timbers; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominated From Up Here by Liz Flahive; audience favorite Dixie's Tupperware Party by Kris Andersson; the show that put Bridget Everett on the map, At Least It's Pink, by Everett and Kenny Mellman; and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail's first New York production, Freestyle Love Supreme, by Anthony Veneziale and Miranda.